Comedy speaks through Tommy Tiernan like an elemental force. One of Ireland’s most respected comic exports, his latest challenge is to improvise an hour without repeating anything he’s ever said before. We discuss the problems this presents, what led him to take it on, and where and when to wave your mickey in the moonlight…

A strong contender for Stu’s favourite comic of all time, Patton Oswalt is a behemoth of invention, imagination and creativity. Live from Montreal, at which he won “Stand-up Comedian of the Year”, we discuss what lifts a comic above being “funny but who gives a fuck?” We also discuss issues of richness, legacy and whether the road gigs are worth it after all; but will Stu manage not to swoon like an Edwardian lady?

A study in confidence, Australian Tom Gleeson trades in lean, punchy material that batters an audience into submission. We discuss how “comedy’s Lex Luthor” changed from being a competent but boring standup, into a forceful presence with absolute faith in his comic perspective...

If you missed Eddie Pepitone in his first UK appearances at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, you’re a chump.
A truly mesmerising comic’s comic, and subject of documentary “The Bitter Buddha”, he unearths howling cosmic pain in the most mundane of places. In this live show, Eddie discusses how improvisation allows him to write “with” his audience.

Liam would rather be accused of fascism than being boring.
Leaving behind the “intellectualised whimsy” of his former persona, he has embarked on a quest to say the unsayable.
Find out why Tim Minchin makes him angry, and the precise circumstances under which one might shoot a child in the legs.